stroke

People with the irregular heart rhythm called atrial fibrillation have an increased risk of blood clots, which can lead to a stroke.

Most blood clots in these patients form in a small pocket of the heart, explain invasive cardiac electrophysiologist Jamal Ahmed and nurse Scott Davis, who both work in the Upstate Heart and Vascular Center. Davis is the Watchman procedure coordinator, which refers to the procedure now offered to prevent clots from escaping that pocket, known as the left atrial appendage.

A new study shows that doctors may have more time than previously thought to successfully treat someone who has had a stroke. Doctors at Upstate Medical University in Syracuse see this as a new era in stroke treatment.

During a stroke, brain cells that are cut off from blood flow will ultimately die, which is why physicians urge anyone with stroke symptoms to get treatment within six hours, to effectively remove a stroke-causing blood clot.

Dr. Clyde Yancy is the chief of cardiology in the Department of Medicine at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. He joins us today to clear up the study’s findings and discuss how we can give all children the opportunity to be healthy.

Survival rates for people with sickle cell disease have greatly improved over the last 40 years, and pediatrician Kathryn Scott believes a cure is likely within the lifetime of her young patients. Scott directs the pediatric sickle cell program at Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital. She discusses stem cell transplants and the promise of gene therapy in this week’s show.

A heart-healthy diet is also healthy for the brain. So, eating food that is low in salt, low in fat and low in carbohydrates can help reduce the risk of stroke, says registered dietitian nutritionist Rebecca Hausserman.

She and nurse Michelle Vallelunga, from Upstate University Hospital's Comprehensive Stroke Center, talk about the steps people can take to reduce their stroke risk on this week’s show. They say some 80 percent of strokes can be prevented.

Kidney cancer is often discovered by chance, when a patient receives an imaging scan for something else, says Dr. Oleg Shapiro, a urologist and radiation oncologist at Upstate Medical University.

Minimally invasive surgery can usually be done to remove tumors when they are caught early. Shapiro also explains how renal cell carcinoma is the most common type of kidney cancer, how it can be aggressive and what treatments are on the horizon.

The surgical option for patients suffering from stroke used to be limited to traditional open surgery. Advances in radiology have made it possible for specially trained neurosurgeons, called endovascular neurosurgeons, to make repairs from within blood vessels using catheters and guide wires.

Dr. Michael Weiner encourages people to take free brain function tests on the website he created. He hopes to use the registry to find candidates for Alzheimer’s treatment trials.

Weiner, who earned his medical degree at Upstate Medical University in 1965, is a professor at the University of California, San Francisco. In this interview, he explains how Alzheimer’s disease differs from normal memory loss.

James Abbott, Thomas Campbell and James Rosenberg, three former chief executives of Syracuse's public hospital, describe the challenges they faced from the 1950s to the 1990s on this week’s show.

They helped shape health care as it underwent a revolution in the 20th century, including new technologies and quicker, less invasive surgeries. Despite all the changes, Abbott, Campbell and Rosenberg believe the fundamental task of hospitals hasn’t changed -- keeping the patients comfortable and treating them with humanity.

Acne is the most common skin condition in the United States and the result of factors that may include hormone levels, genetics, medications and one’s environment, according to Dr. Ramsay Farah, division chief of dermatology at Upstate Medical University.

On this week’s show, Farah explains how medications to fight acne have improved and how early treatment helps avoid scarring.

Also tune in for discussion on prostate cancer medications, water safety and stroke care. Plus, Deirdre Neilen shares a poem from The Healing Muse, Upstate's literary journal.

Pregnant women, sex workers and men having sex with men are recommended to be tested for exposure to syphilis since health officials have noticed an increase in cases of the sexually-transmitted disease.

"We started to see these rates spike the last couple of years, quite significantly," said Indu Gupta, MD, health commissioner for Onondaga County.

Upstate University Hospital has won a “comprehensive stroke center” designation by a national health care accrediting agency. But what does that mean for central New York stroke victims?

Catherine Stephens, the administrator of the Upstate Stroke Center, likes to say “time is brain” when emphasizing how important it is for stroke victims to get fast treatment. So as soon as Upstate is alerted of a patient with a possible stroke, the team goes into action.

In the early days of the AIDS epidemic, a positive diagnosis was virtually a death sentence. Today, a person taking antiretroviral medications can live long term with the disease as a chronic infection. Now researchers are looking into why the aging population living with HIV/AIDS is at greater risk for heart disease and stroke.

Clinical researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center will use a $3.8 million grant to investigate why people treated with antiretrovirals for HIV have higher than average rates of heart disease and stroke.

Strokes that occur in women create symptoms that are different than those in men. Women may experience the classic sudden numbness or severe headache, but they may also develop arm pain, general weakness or hiccups.

Rochele Clark, Upstate Medical University's stroke program coordinator, explains the importance of calling 911 immediately. Quick action is essential to help lessen the damage from a stroke.

Couples trying to conceive may be surprised to learn that many sexual lubricants act as spermicides, reducing their changes of pregnancy.

Several commercial products and household oils are harmful to sperm and can slow the movement of sperm, according to a study conducted through the andrology laboratory at Upstate Medical University. We'll discuss the study and it's implications with the director of andrology services, Kazim Chohan, and Dr. Renee Mestad.

Then, Dr. Antonia Culebras explains how to reduce stroke risk for people with irregular heartbeats.